A man has been jailed for four years after he slashed another man's hand outside a takeaway in Watford town centre in the early hours of New Year's Day.

David Daniel, 30, was captured on CCTV attacking the victim - who he knew - with a lock knife outside Roosters Piri Piri in the high street.

St Albans Crown Court heard Daniel then fled into Wellstones but he was quickly caught by a female police officer who he had made off from on the ring road near Market Street.

The knife, with an 8cm blade, that he used to attack his victim was discovered on the roof of Holy Rood Catholic Church after he was seen by the officer throwing it away.

Police were initially alerted to the attack outside the takeaway after it was spotted by a CCTV operator. Several members of the public also witnessed what was happening and called police.

See more: Inside the Watford CCTV room monitoring the town 24/7

Hertfordshire Constabulary says the victim suffered a minor injury to his finger.

Following his arrest, Daniel was charged with one count of actual bodily harm (ABH), one count of affray and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place.

Appearing in court on January 31, Daniel pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced by Judge Philip Grey to four years in prison.

PC Rory Farmer, from the Watford local crime unit, said: "The evidence showed us that the victim in this case did not assault Daniel and instead tried to placate him as he launched his attack. Afterwards, he was checked over by paramedics at the scene but refused hospital treatment.

"Daniel was interviewed, charged, and remanded later this same day, and this case demonstrates that we do – and will continue to do – all that we can to remove dangerous offenders like Daniel from the streets, even if we do not have the support of victims.

"We will not tolerate knife crime in Watford, and we will persist with our mission to protect the public by removing both weapons and offenders from our town."